gatrell



No. 6l7, 734. Patented Ian. I7 I899.

0. A. GATRELL.

VOTING MACHINE.

(Appliogtion filed Deb. 27, 1897.) (No Model.) 4 Sheets-$heet I.

. w a j ,7 v m 2' I F/ Q Q 1 Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q -QQ Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q 1 WtTN ESSES ,0 W 7 'NVENTOR ATTORNEYI- No. 6l7,734. Patented Jan 17, 899;

0. A. GA TRELL. VOTING momma.

(Application filed Dec. 2'7, 1897.)

(No Model.) y 4 Sheets$haet 2.

WITNESSES 3 Tug). X 4

ATTORNEY,

Patented Jan. I7, 1899.

0.. A. GATRE LL VOTING MACHINE. A ximioi filed Dec. 27, 1397.

4 SheetsSheet 3 ("n-Modal.)

WITNESSES:

INVENTOR ATTORN EY N o. 6|7,734. Patented Ian. l7, miss.

0. A. GATRELL. 4

VOTING MACHINE.

(Application filed Dec. 27, 1897.) (No Model.) 4 SheetsSheet.4-

INVENTQR $17 of I ATTORN EYo UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

YOTTMAR A. GATRELL, or COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF To ROSA BAUM.

VOTING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 617,734, dated January 17, 1899. Application filed December 27,1897- Berial No. 683,680. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, Orrnnn A. GATRELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at C0- lumbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Voting-Machines; and I do names of the ndmine'esofthe' respeotiveparties, and it is required of the voter to designate by a pencil-market the top of the ticket an entireticketjf he'wishes to vote it, or by marks opposite the name of each and every particular nominee for' whom he wishes to vote if he wishes to vote-a ,scratched. or mixed ticket; After the polls are closed itis 'reguiredof the judges of election -to count the ballots and the number of votesreceived by'e'ach' candidate, and this has proved an arduous and time-consuming'process', particularly when there has been much scratching, delayingthe returns and taxing the patience of'an anxious public; v The object of my invention is to provide a voting machineof simplified construction in which the use of. separate paper ballots and a pencilare avoided and in which the voting is accomplished by simply pushing keys, and, further, in which the'voting is expedited by reason of devices. under the observation and control of the judges, indicating when the voter has finished his vote... I

Machines for mechanically registering votes have heretofore been devised, but owingto' their complexity and the absence of certain characteristics necessary to the successful and satisfactory operation and use such machines have failed of adoption. With my machine as here shown the voteris' simply'required to push a button near and opposite the name of each nominee, and incidentally I provide means for rendering it'impracticable vote for 'more thanone nominee for any particu lar (mice and therefore impracticable for him to vote for more than the proper number of nominees. Hence it will be gathered that it will be impracticable'for avoter to vote a defective and incompetent ballot, as is fregufintlynow the case with theordinary paper a ct.

S5 .Inthe annexed drawings, Figure l isa front view inelevation of. a machine embodying my invention, parts being broken out to illustrate detailsof the interiormechanism. 1 Fig.

' 2 is a vertical sectional view on a plane indicated by the line a: at, Fig. 1, the uppermost spool being broken otf and the ribbons or tapes of all the spools being omitted except the lowermost. Fig; 3 'is a horizontal. sec tional view illustrating the key and registering device. Fig. 4 is a detail illustratingthe details of construction of the bar for operating the vote-indicator wheel. Fig. 5 ,is-a detail view, in front elevation, of the device for lifting the pawls that latch the push-buttonsor key-bars. Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view of a voting-booth, illustrating how my machine may be used.

"Like characters of reference in thedifierent views designate corresponding parts. v

1 designates the casing or frame in whichall the parts are mounted. The said casing or frame may be provided with a horizontal partition 2, lying about midway of the casing. Arranged in the lower compartment so as to stand in vertical and horizontalrows are key-'bars 3, having at their protruding outer ends buttons or keys 3. These vnrtical rows are spaced su fliciently far apart toallow places 4 in which to placeand exhibit adjacent each key the name of the nominee, as well as the oflice for which he is acandidate. In practice there willof course be provided in the machine as many horizontal rows of keys as there are ofiices to be voted for and as many vertical rows as there are parties having nomineesl, Theinner ends ofvthe key-bars 3 are provided with small peripherally grooved rollers 3 I Supported to stand vertically in the machine and in line with the inner ends of each of the vertical rows of keys is. a bar 5,,having-a series of teeth 5* pivoted in the upper portion thereof, andin-the lower end of said bar 5 is 'a peripherally-grooved pulley 5", the axle of which protrudes and moves in guide-bars 6, depending. preferably, from the horizontal partition Arranged vertically near the inner ends of each of thc-vertical rows of the bars 3 are standards 7, which support idler-,

rollers 7, that are spaced to allow the bars 3 to be pushed horizontally between them. Attached to the under side of the partition 2 is a cord 8,that passes downward under the roller 5, upward to and over pulleys 9 on the partition 2, and thence downward between the rollers '7 in standards 7 and rollers 3" in the key-bars 3 to the bottom of the casing, where it is tied.

Arranged horizontally in the upper rear part of the casing is a shaft 10,'upon which are keyed as ma'nyratchet-wheels 10- as there are bars 5. Said ratchet-wheels have as many teeth as there are keys in a vertical row and theyare positioned on'the'said shaft to be engaged and operated by the teethof said bars 5. There is also secured on said shaft at any suitable point between two of the ratchet-s adrum 11,1b681il1g on its circumference a series of numbers from 1 upward to as many as there are teeth on the ratchet-wheels. The

ratchet-wheels are engaged by spring-actuated pawls 10*, pivoted in the upper side of the casing, and the drum 11 has a pin 11 to en'- gage a stop 11 on the upper side of the easing to prevent it from making more than one rotation or to limit therotationthereof at any point desired.

,Arranged in the front part of the casing alongside "of each vertical row of key-bars 3 is a stationary shaft 12, upon which is a series of spools 13, each having a ratcheted head that permits the spools to be. rotated from left to right only. Each of the bars 3 is pro vided with a tooth 3 to operate the ratcheted head of the spool and is so placed that when the key is in its outermost position it shall not strike a tooth of the ratcheted head until the key has been pushed considerably inward. Each of the key-bars 3 is provided at its under side with coiled springs 3 to retract it at the proper time after it has been pushed in.

Pivoted on vertically-arranged bars 15 are pawls 15, that drop into and engage notches 23 in the upper edges or the key-bars 3 when said bars have been pushed in sufliciently far to register a vote.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a structure that I have devised for lifting simultaneously all the pawls 15-. It consists of a frame made up of the upper and lower horizontal rails or parts 16 and 16 and several pairs of vertical strips 16*, "between which latter are passed as many small horizontally-arranged pins 16.

as there are pawls 15. This frame, which may not improperly be termed the key-re- -not so as to prevent the dropping of the said pawls into the notches of the key-bars 3. The said frame is movable vertically, and to keep it in its proper position the lower rail 16 projects slightly at each end, as shown at 16, to engage channels or grooves in the opposite side of the casing. The upper part of the frame passes through and is guided by a narrow opening in the partition 2. A cord 17 is attached to the middle of the upper'rail l6 and passes over a pulley in the wallet the casing 1. Eachofthe spring-actuatedipawls 10 also has'attached to it a cord 12, that passes out through the top of the casing 1 and over'a pulley, and the several cords '12 are attached to common bar 12. The cord 17 .is also attached to the bar 12, and from this bar extends a cord 18, so that the key-releaser and the pawls 10 may be operated simultanoously and, if desired, in a room adjoining that inwhich the voting-machine is placed, as indicated in Fig. 6.

As before stated, the names of the nominees of the different parties for the same office are arranged in the same horizontal line, and to prevent a voter from voting for. more than one nominee (thereby rendering his vote void for uncertainty) I provide means for opposite side walls of the casing in such man-'1 nor that the slack permits one key-bar only to be pushed in sufliciently far to effect an operation of the spool 13. The ends of the holes 3" are preferably rounded to prevent the cutting o the cord 20.

In..the rear part'of the lower compartment are arranged vertical stationary shafts 21, u n which are placed independently-mova le spools 22, having ratcheted heads 22. There are as many of the shafts 21 as there are shafts 12 and as many-spools 22 as spools 13, and said spools occup the same horizontal plane. The ratchet heads of the spools 22 are also engaged by spring-actuated pawls to prevent them from rotating in more than one direction. Each of these spools 22 contains a tape 23, bearing numbers from 1 upward, which are so spaced that one number is brought to a given point upon each move-,

10 keys pushed in.

ticket may be protected by a strip of glass fitting between the channels and covering and protecting the ticket, but so that it may be seen by the voter.

In operation the voter, if found duly qualified, passes into the room containing the machine and pushes in the keys opposite the names of the nominees for whom he intends 'to vote. In Fig 2 I haveshown one'of such It is the fifth key from the top. When a key is thus pressed in, it pushes .the cord 8 inward betweenthe rollers 7 and raises the bar 5 adistance-of one tooth, thus in diiferent horizontal rows eifects acomplete revolution of the drum 11. When eleven 2 5 votes have been made by the voter the number "11 is exhibited throughan opening in the casing and partition to thejudges of election in the adjoining room, who then know that the voter'has finished. The voter is of course required to finish his vote within a prescribed time, and the machine is reset by the judges of election by simply pulling upon the cord 18, thus lifting the keyreleaser, the keys automatically returning to their out- 35 ward position through the operation of their springs 3. When the cord 18 is pulled, the pawls are also lifted, thus allowing the bars 5 to drop by gravity, the pivoted teeth therein readily passing the teeth of the ratchet-wheels 10.

- The several vertical rows of keys may, if desirable or advantageous, be diiferently colored to distinguish the tickets of the several political parties.

When the polls are closed, the judges of election remove the tickets from the .channels 25 and take down the number of votes received by each nominee, as shown by the The key-bass 3 Y may be sustained in their horizontal position by means of pins 20, secured and extending'between the bars 15 and passing through slots 3* in the key-bars 8.

My machine as shown in the accompanying drawings is susceptible of modification without departing from the scope vof my invention. v

Additional keys like those already herein shown and described may of course be also provided to enable voters to vote yes or no upon propositions submitted to the sufbags of the people.

\Vhat Iclaim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Y '1. In a voting-machine, the combination of a'series of keyed push-bars arranged in horizontaland vertical rows, means for registeb ing the number of times each push-bar is operated, cords 20 adapted to prevent the opera- 7:; tion of more than one push-bar in each row shaft 10, indicator-wheel 11 and a series of ratchet-wheels 10 on said shaft,'toothed bars 5 engaging the ratchet-wheels, and cords 8 arranged to engage the bars 5 and to be oper-- 15 ated by the push-bars, substantially as and "for the purpose shown and described.

wheels, cords 8 arranged to engage the bars .5 and to be operated by the key-bars, pawls 10 for the ratchet-wheels, cords 12 for releasing pawls 10", cord 17 for raising frame 0 16, and cord 18 connected with cords 12 and 17 for releasing pawls lo iand 10 simultane-' ously,,substantially as shown and described.

' In witness whereof I have hereunto aifixed my hand,this 14th day of December, 1897,in 5 the presenceof two. witnesses.

. OTTMAR A. GATRELL. Witnesses:

GEORGE M. FINCKEL,. FRED 0. Ramos. 

